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Traficant still enjoys support in the Valley
Published:Friday, September 4, 2009
DEMOCRATIC PARTY HONOREE: Matthew D. Gurbach of Liberty was among about 20 honored by the Ohio Democratic Party as a 2009 Ohio Democrat of the Year. Gurbach and the others received the awards for their work during the 2008 presidential campaign. Gurbach, an attorney, served as the Northeast Ohio regional counsel for the party’s voter protection effort. He trained hundreds of lawyers and other volunteers who served as Election Day poll observers. Gurbach is an attorney with the Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell Ltd. law firm. Political gathering: The North County Democrats will meet Sept. 14 at the L’uva Bella Winery on U.S. Route 224 at Lowellville Road. The doors open at 6 p.m. with the meeting starting at 7 p.m. Membership in the club is $10 a year. Those planning to attend the Sept. 14 meeting are asked to first call Lowellville Mayor James Iudiciani Sr., the club’s president, at (330) 727-9785. He needs a head count for the food. skolnick@vindy.com |
Does the name James A. Traficant Jr. mean anything to Mahoning Valley voters?
There is no doubt that the ex-congressman/ex-con has his supporters.
More than 1,000 of them are paying $20 each to attend Sunday’s “Jim Traficant Appreciation Dinner” at Mr. Anthony’s banquet hall in Boardman to celebrate his Wednesday release from federal prison. (The proceeds will go to pay for the celebration, organizers say.)
This is an event that most likely won’t include an appearance by Traficant. But tickets for the dinner have sold well on name recognition alone.
Traficant’s release, of course, has drawn renewed interest in him. But he still has his share of admirers — just read the comments to any Traficant article on Vindy.com.
When Traficant ran for the Ohio 17th Congressional District seat as an independent from federal prison in 2002, he received 20.8 percent of the vote in Mahoning County.
He received 16.9 percent of the vote in Trumbull County.
Think about that.
More than 20,000 people in Mahoning and Trumbull counties voted for a felon who had been convicted a few months earlier on 10 criminal counts including racketeering, bribery and obstruction of justice.
Traficant didn’t campaign. He was in a federal prison in Pennsylvania when the votes were cast and counted.
If elected, Traficant would have served from prison.
Because of his indictment and criminal trial, he stopped going to Washington, D.C., for about six months. He returned in July 2002 for his impeachment hearing.
Taking that into account, he still had enough political muscle to give Ann Womer Benjamin, the failed Republican candidate in that congressional race, a battle for second place in Mahoning County.
Womer Benjamin received 27.8 percent of the Mahoning vote, or only 7 percent more than Traficant.
Both were easily beaten by Democrat Tim Ryan, who continues to hold that seat.
It’s been more than seven years since Traficant has been a free man.
While we don’t have any way of knowing for sure, I think Traficant’s days in politics are over.
But his name means something to politicians.
How else do you explain why some of the Mahoning Valley’s most prominent politicians won’t say anything — or much of anything — about Traficant’s release?
Ryan is touted as a leader in changing the Valley’s image and economy.
Yet a request for a brief interview on the impact of Traficant’s return to the area was rejected.
I repeatedly asked Brad Bauman, Ryan’s spokesman, for a few minutes with the congressman to talk about Traficant.
In one e-mail I wrote last Friday: “I want to talk to Tim today or Monday for a few minutes on the release of Traficant. Can you make it happen?”
Bauman’s response: “We’ll make some time on Monday.”
Instead, Ryan’s office released a statement Monday wishing Traficant well and that the ex-congressman “has a lot of catching up to do and deserves his privacy.”
Additional requests to talk to Ryan about Traficant were denied or ignored.
The area’s highest profile elected official has basically nothing — good or bad — to say about the area’s former highest profile elected official getting out of prison.
While Ryan hid, at least he issued a statement.
Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, who served as Traficant’s regional director, and Mahoning County Commissioner David Ludt, who testified on behalf of Traficant at the ex-congressman’s federal trial, didn’t return telephone calls seeking comment.
I wasn’t looking for condemnation of Traficant. I wanted to get the thoughts of local political leaders who knew Traficant about the release.
Some stepped up, but many stepped away.
So much for leadership.
Comments
But Congressman Tim Ryan HAS shown leadership! He has become a leader in carrying water for the pro-abortion lobby in Washington, all the while telling his constituents that he is "pro-life."
Pro-life members of the U.S. House of Representatives, such as Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mi.) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), have been hard at work trying to remove sweeping pro-abortion provisions from the pending Obama-backed health-care bill (H.R. 3200). Congressman Ryan has been working just as hard to keep the pro-abortion language in the bill. (The independent center FactCheck.org said that under the language Ryan has been promoting, abortion is likely to be covered by the proposed "public option," and in addition, "Private plans that cover abortion also could be purchased with the help of federal subsidies." The FactCheck.org analysis is here: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/abortio... )
Ryan now plays a special role in advancing pro-abortion interests in Washington: His job is to appear on various TV shows and websites, falsely identify himself as a pro-life congressman, and then promote whatever phony language the pro-abortion lobby wants as a wonderful "compromise."
Ryan also has to make time for his pro-abortion work on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where on July 7 he joined forces with the other pro-abortion members of the committee to approve a repeal a longstanding ban on the use of congressionally appropriated funds to pay for abortion on demand in the District of Columbia.
All of this work earns Ryan the gratitude of pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood, but of course it does take a lot of time, and Ryan was probably just too busy to get back to you.
Jim Traficant's failings are a matter of public record, but on abortion policy issues, Traficant did not just call himself "pro-life" -- he actually voted that way. Tim Ryan has not cast a pro-life vote since 2006.
In order to more thoroughly document Ryan's work against the pro-life side, National Right to Life has established, for the first time ever, a special section of our website that is devoted to a single member of Congress. It is titled, "Congressman Tim Ryan: Pro-Life Impersonator." Check it out: http://www.nrlc.org/AHC/RyanUpdate.html
Douglas Johnson
Legislative Director
National Right to Life Committee
Washington, D.C.
202-626-8820
Legfederal -- at -- aol-dot-com
http://www.nrlc.org
Well, Ryan hiding from issues of controversy is nothing new. If how he has handled the healthcare issue is of any indication, then his lack of a response to someone who clearly could beat him in 2010 is not surprising in the least. Though I was unable to vote for Traficant in the 17th District when he ran against Ryan, he would have received my vote then and he would receive it now having seen what I have seen in the last few years. Traficant was an independent to the core, unlike our current placeholder who is in lockstep with the far left whom he tries so hard to disassociate himself.
Traficant would NEVER have tolerated what is going on in Congress now. If there was ever a time we needed him, it would be right now.
I agree that Ryan is as far left as Nancy Pelosi wants him to be but Traficant is old news, nothing but a wannabe politician who leachated off the system forever. Ryan needs to go and Traficant needs to stay home and drink his Kool Aid
Jim is history and should be treated as such . The past can't be changed . Plenty of people nationwide are curious and interested in Jim Traficant . A Traficant museum and art gallery on route 46 off I 80 at exit 223 would be a big hit with the tourists .